The centenary of the first, short-lived Labour Government of 1924 hasn't (to my mind) generated much comment.
Nonetheless, I found Peter Clark's offering and thought that I'd give it a go.
There are some unfortunate factual mishaps (for example, the conservative politician Raymond Poincaré is misnamed as Jules Henri Poincaré, the innocuous scientist who died in 1912), but I was glad that the ever-anathametised Ramsay MacDonald received a more nuanced assessment.
Today is All Souls' Day. This day developed in the Middle Ages as a time for comfort and connection between the living and the dead: a day to ensure no one was left alone in death, and to reassure the living of their place within a vast community of souls. https://t.co/ZFx5Vtm3FN
It would be interesting to have an updated edition that reflects on the EU's deeper integration since 2000, and which takes account of ETA's full & formal dissolution (though Kurlansky is right when he bristles at any immediate, sole association of all things Basque with ETA).
Although it was published almost a quarter of a century ago, in early 2000, Mark Kurlansky's "The #Basque History of the World" remains a useful contribution in any effort to learn more about one of Europe's most enigmatic national communities.
#Euskadi#PaísVasco#PaysBasque
While avoiding bias, Kurlansky is overtly (but not overly) sympathetic to the Basques; this is a good thing, thoughtfully achieved.
His assertion that the Basques have been defined in the wider world predominantly by Spanish perspectives is difficult to measure but rings true.
I ended up going down an online rabbit-hole in reading about the Glasites.
I was interested to discover that #Edinburgh had a Glasite meeting house, built in 1835. It now houses a gallery so I'll have to get in and investigate...
https://t.co/btNUT65WsL
The Glasites were a Christian sect formed in the C18th, taking their name from the cleric John Glas, following his expulsion from the Kirk.
The Glasites seem to have had a strong focus on alleviating poverty, but with severe communal discipline & antinomian doctrine.
The paddle steamer ferry B L Nairn was built by the Caledon shipyard for the Dundee Harbour Trust.
It was launched on 23rd April 1929.
This photograph comes from the Caledon collection and may have been taken during the ferries first voyage or trials in 1929
#Dundee#Archives
Yesterday's closure of House of Dun for a wedding turned out to be serendipitous: we instead visited - and really enjoyed - Langley Park Gardens, situated in pretty much the same hinterland of #Montrose as House of Dun.
There are pleasant views out to #Montrose and its Basin from Langley Park Gardens (with mysterious stone, because we're in the Pictish heartlands, after all).